Dealing with a chronic skin condition can be difficult for even the strongest, most confident people. Someone who knows this well is influencer Lex Gillies.
She's suffered from rosacea for most of her life, a condition which causes her face to turn bright red, hot and irritated.
Six years ago, Lex set up her own beauty blog. Initially, she used the platform to speak about makeup, but later moved on to share her experiences with rosacea in a bid to promote skin-positivity.
After having her photo taken for Sophie Harris-Taylor's Epidermis series, she decided to post the picture on Instagram - but was left hurt and confused when the platform deemed it 'undesirable' and removed it.
"I was proud to feature in such an empowering and emotional project, so I tried to turn my post into an advert on Instagram," she told Refinery29.
"In simple terms, I paid money so that Instagram would show my photo to people who I thought might be interested. This is something that happens every day on social media."
The image was instantly rejected, sighting that it contained "images that excessively focus on body parts or depict unlikely before-and-after results. This can make people feel bad about their state of health."
Furious about this unfair decision, Lex appealed to Facebook and was even more disappointed with their response: "Here’s what’s preventing your ad from running: We don’t allow ads that focus on aspects of a person’s body to highlight an undesirable or idealised body state," it said.
Apparently, rosacea is considered 'undesirable' - even more shockingly, eczema, acne and dermatitis were also included on the list.
Lex expressed her anger in a blogpost and soon after the hashtag #undesirablesofinstagram was born. Fellow 'undesirable' people began sharing photos of their faces along with the hashtag and it quickly became a movement.
Thankfully, Facebook contacted Lex later on to apologise, stating that the advert was denied 'in error' and that they are 'sorry for the mistake.' Better still, they've permanently changed their advertising guidelines.
"As a direct result of the #UndesirablesOfInstagram campaign, and the incredible support of the skin positivity community, the word "undesirable" no longer features at any point in their guidelines," explained Lex.
"The wording is now much clearer: "We don't allow ads that contain unexpected or unlikely results. Ad content must not imply or attempt to generate negative self-perception in order to promote diet, weight loss, or other health related products."
Shop Lex's favourite skincare prods for rosacea
La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 Soothing Repairing Balm
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Follow Gabrielle on Instagram.
Gaby is the Senior Beauty Writer here at Cosmopolitan.com/UK. Her favourite hobbies include sleeping, eating cake till she can't move and uncontrollably hoarding beauty products.
